Clothesline holder and tightener



I. V. LOFQUIST.

CLOTHESLINE HOLDER AND IIIJHTENER.

APPLICATION FILED AUGIZ. I920.

1,378,967. Patented A r. 5, 1921.

UNET' JOHN V. LOFQUIST, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

CLOTHESLINE HOLDER AND TIGHTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

Application filed August2, 1920. Serial No. 400,618.

To all whom 2t may concern: 7

Be it knownthat 1, JOHN V. Lor'oois'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Clothesline Holder and Tightener, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for holding and stretching clotheslines in position for use; and the object is to provide an inexpensive simple and easily operated device of said kind;

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a top view of a pair of posts with a horizontal bar secured on each of.

them and clothes lines stretched between the bars by my improved device. Fig. 2 is an enlargement of the lower left hand corner of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front view of the middle portion of Fig. 2 with the bar 5 omitted and the bracket 8 partly broken away for want of space, and the shaft turned 180 degrees.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 1 designates two posts fixedin the ground and having secured near their tops one of them a plank or bar 5, the other a similiar bar 6. This rig is so common for holding clothes lines 7 by hooks, staples or other means secured on the bars 5, 6, that I need not further describe the same, except to say this that in my drawing the posts 4 and bars 5, 6 represent also house walls or any other suitable objects to which my device may be secured.

The device itself consists of a bracket 8 securable to the stationary object by bolts 8 and a shaft 9 journaled in the bracket and provided at one end with a handle 10 by which to turn it, the other end is preferably turned upward and is offset at 11 so that its upper portion 12, which is tapered downwardly, forms a crank-pin, or crank 12 with a shoulder 12 at the base of it. The top end of the portion 12 is bifurcated forming a fork or crotch 13, whose outward sides 1i converge toward the part 12, so as to prevent upward escape of the clothes line 8 when placed thereon, as will presently be more fully described.

The bracket 8 is preferably made up of two members, 8 and 8 and secured together with their forward ends by a bolt 15 after their half-journal bearings 16 are placed one at each side of the shaft portion 9 between the two collars .or shoulders 17 18,

with-which the shaft is provided as means to prevent sliding movement of the shaft. In the operation of the device the bracket 15 secured by spikes, screws or bolts, 8, to some stationary object and the clothes line to be stretched is suitably secured to hooks or like means and the part or end of it by which it is to be stretched and held stretched, is suitably secured to the fork 13 and wound upon the crank 12 by turning of the handle 10 and shaft 911.

The clothes line, whose portion 7* in Figs. 2 and 3 is to be stretched,may have its end portion formed into a loop like 7 and placed upon and into the fork '13 with the idle end 7 of the line, either projecting radially. out from or it may hang down upon the side of the crank 12 and be wound between it and the coils 7 p It is obvious that when the line is simply attached to the fork its body 7 occupies the position shown in full line in Fig. 2 but after the shaft is given one or more turns, 7 i

that part of the line will get to the position shown in dotted line 7 and in such or similar position it is impossible for the line, no matter how tight it may be stretched, to unwind itself by imparting rotary motion to the shaft 9. To make such accidental unwinding possible the line must at least be in the position 7, and the latter position can only be reached after forcible turning of the shaft by the operator in thedirection of the arrow 19 in Fig. 2, or in the opposite direction according as the linemay have been wound on the crank.

Each strand or run of a clothes line may have oneof my devices'at one end of it; but in Fig. 1 is shown how several strands may be stretched by one device. Thus in the upper part of Fig. 1 one length of line is secured at 20, is slidable over two hooks 21 and has its other end attached to my device at 22 which thus stretches two strands of line 7. In the lower part of Fig. 1 three strands 7 are stretched by a single device at 23, the line formingsaid strands being slidable in hooks 24, 25 and secured at 26.

As alreadyv partly stated, the bracket 88 may be varied in many modified forms which it would be impractical to show in my drawing; andthe clothes line may be attached to the fork in various manners, and even the fork 13 may be consider;

may be taken up by one or more turns of' the shaft 9. In rainy weather, which may cause the line to shrink and get too tight, the line may be made slack by unwinding some of it from the crank 12.

What I claim is:

-1. In a clothes line holder and stretcher,

a frame or bracket adapted to be secured to a stationary object, a shaftjournaled in the bracket and having at one end a handle by which to rotate it, the other end being offset to form a crank and terminating in a means adapted to have the clothes line attached to it; said crank serving as a winding drum for a portion of the attached line and as a means for preventing accidental unwinding of the line.

2. The structure specified in claim 1, said bracket having its journal holding portion shaft having twocollars to prevent sliding movement of it in the bracket.

5. The structure specified in claim 1, said line holding means at the end of the crank consisting of a fork in and about which the line may be attached.

6. The structure-specified-in claim 5, the tines of said fork being gradually spread apart toward their free ends.

' 7. The structure specified in claim 1, said crank or drum forming a' truncated cone with its small end-toward the offset of the shaft, and said offset forming at said point a circular shoulder by which the line is prevented frorn winding upon the offset itself.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN V. LOFQUIST. Y 

